Volcanoes National Park Holo Holo

We spent two days camping at VNP. Memo to self: don't camp on the weekends when school is out. A bit noisy and crowded, but we made do.

We took a ride up to the Mauna Loa lookout (about 6200 feet), thinking we were going to see the summit of Mauna Loa.

But, the lookout was to Kilauea. Still, a nice drive and all.

 Saw of few of these: Gray Francolin. Not too afraid of humans.

 Hidden on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea are the silver sword plants. Extremely rare, they live 10-35 years, then flower and die.

 This plant is about 5 feet tall. There were numerous silver swords in the area, marked to keep people away from the fragile plants.

I don't know what this is, but it is scattered along the road edge and very pretty. Looks like some kind of poppy. If you know, let me know.

Peace my friends!

Ho'oulu Farmer's Market

Manono was asked by her Kumu Hula (master teacher), to talk story about items of Hawaiian cultural significance at the Ho'oulu Farmer's Market at Keauhou Bay. Aunty Bobbi helped Manono create the Kukui Tree display, Kirsty baked Irish soda bread, kabocha (pumpkin) bread and made lemon curd, we all made the inamona from the kukui nut, I picked avocados, Manono gathered the proteas and plumeria cuttings, the hens laid the eggs, and this run-on sentence must end.

 Manono and Kirsty setting up.

  Kirsty cutting up some of the soda bread for samples.

 The kabocha squash gives the bread a bright orange look!

 Pin Cushion and Pink Mink proteas.

 The eggs are so delicious, with bright orange yolks.

 The kukui tree display. The kukui tree is the official tree of Hawaii. The Hawaiian variety is the one on the table, with the skinnier leaves. The more common variety is from Madagascar (to the left), with broader, maple leaf type leaves.

 Aunty Bobbi wrote about the history and significance of the kukui tree on coconut paper (the middle of the table). The inamona (wrapped in the ti leafs), made from the chopped up, roasted kukui nut, is used as a condiment on poke, steaks, and salads.

 Leis made from the kukui nut shells.

The kukui nut is green on the tree, then drops and turns darker until the outer shell rots off, leaving the nut. Inamona is best made by gathering the nut after the outer shell turns dark brown on the ground. After discarding the outer shell, the nuts are placed in water to see which ones float. The ones that float are usually empty and can be used to make leis. The nuts to the right (3 nuts on a stick) are used as a candle. Roasted nuts bring out the oils, and were commonly used for lighting fires or as candles or torches. It was also used as a time reference, as in "I will see you in one kukui nut" which referenced how long the nut would burn.


We had a nice time at the market, even though it was sweltering. That area is always very hot, and humid. One gives thanks for even the slightest breeze. The ocean is only a block away, so next time we will go for a swim afterwards!

Peace my friends.

This Garbage Dump We Call Earth

Kirsty and I spent a day with the Hawaiian Wildlife Fund group cleaning up the beach at Kamilo Point. Once considered the dirtiest beach in the world, HWF has since remedied that sorry fact by getting groups of volunteers to clean up the beach.

From the HWF website:

The mega-gyre of floating plastic estimated to be larger than the state of Texas is pouring a steady stream of marine debris on certain beaches of Hawai’i. At South Point (Ka Lae) of Hawai’i Island (Big Island), HWF has cleaned more than 100 tons of marine debris from these remote beaches during the last four years. This coastline is visited by endangered Hawaiian monk seals,humpback whales,and nested on by the endangered hawksbill turtle.

HWF organized the first community shoreline cleanups here in 2003 and the effort has been continuous since. Over the past year, HWF has helped to remove more than 12 tons of marine debris from this nine-mile stretch of coastline.

The big problem is that the debris keeps coming ashore at a rate we’ve estimated to be 15-20 tons per year. Most of the large bundles of net, many weighing well over 1,000 pounds, are removed with special equipment we’ve built, and HWF works with Matson to ship the net and line to Honolulu where it is used to generate electricity in a trash-to-energy conversion plant (H-Power). HWF takes all of the other trash, including the 2,000+ bags of small plastic items collected to date, to the county for burial in a landfill.

Here are pictures from our trip:

 After an hour and a half trip down a kidney-jarring "road" we arrived at Ka' Alu' Alu Bay. The vehicles that couldn't continue were parked here, as the road got rougher for the last 1/2 mile or so. We decided to walk to see if our kidneys could find where they were supposed to sit. We were in the largest truck with Bill, the head of the HWF. He drives a Chevrolet 2500 pickup that is jacked up about three feet and strengthened with everything Chevy has to make it bad-ass for off road. He was also towing an ATV in the back of a US Army trailer. Bill said he has gone through 3 trucks in the last 10 years!

 That is Bill's truck to the left as it heads to the beach site. Kirsty is walking along the road, picking up garbage left behind by inconsiderate surfers and campers who don't respect the land.

The beach, back when HWF started to clean it up.

 The clean beach today.

 Lots and lots of nets entangled in the shrubs and buried in the sand.

 Our pile so far. It is sad to think that one is doing a good job getting this junk off the beach, then you look closely and see that this beach has millions and millions of pieces of tiny plastic pieces mixed in with the sand. On the other hand, the plastic and other debris we remove today won't continue to degrade. The wind, as usual, is very gusty!

 This is a picture from the HWF website showing the types of plastics we picked up.

Over 1,000 pounds of debris off this "clean" beach!

Peace my friends.

Wild Pig

There are plenty of feral pigs in Hawaii. Kirsty invited one over for dinner, rubbing it all over with Hawaiian allspice:

Peace my friends!

Lilikoi Flower

Also known as the passionfruit flower to those of you on zee mainland.
The design of this flower would indicate that someone had a fit of whimsy designing it.

The fruit is almost ripe here and lilikoi has quickly become my go-to sweet. Kirsty makes a lilikoi curd that is out of this world!

Peace my friends.

4th on the Farm

Nature's Fireworks! Happy 4th of July!

Peace to all my friends.